Who's Who (and Who's Not)

The first time I got a letter in the mail from Who’s Who saying that they wanted to include me, I thought I was pretty special. I had just gotten my Ph.D. and was at the Harvard Society of Fellows at the time. I called my Dad to brag.

He laughed out loud at me. “Only fools put themselves in Who’s Who,” he said. “They ask me every year, and I never fill out the form.”

When I studied the materials more closely, I came to concur with him. I can’t remember whether they actually charge you to put a listing in there, or just that you feel like you should buy the book once your name is listed. Whatever it was, I realized that if you care about getting your name in Who’s Who, you don’t belong there.

Out of 700 medal claims he researched, only 297 turned out to be verified in official military records — barely 40 percent. For the highest prize, the Medal of Honor, fully 93 percent of those claiming to have won it were lying.

When contacted by the Tribune, those who had made fraudulent claims had a range of responses: admitting guilt, saying it was a secretary’s mistake, or arguing that his mission was so secret that the award he won is still classified.

My favorite, however, is from Jeremiah Edmund Dorsey, whose excuse was that he meant to list his award as the Republic of Vietnam Honor Medal, not the Medal of Honor. The Republic of Vietnam Honor Medal was given to U.S. soldiers by the former South Vietnamese government, according to the article.

COMMENTS: 22

While I have no idea if I’m in the “Who’s Who” (I’m probably not). I’d support a twist – with a taste of information asymmetry – to Groucho Marx’ disrespect for this kind of clubs: If they propose without knowing what I know about myself, they are a bunch of idiots. If they do propose knowing it, tells me a lot about fellow members.

Until I saw this article, I thought that the Who’s Who list is simply a way for sophisticated burglars to pick their victims. Now it looks like it has a genuine use. The government can now catch all the yahoos falsly claiming military decorations in 1 place.

BTW – I saw a story on the news about some genuine Medal of Honor winners who were exposing the fakers in their spare time. One of them became really depressed when he realized that the genuine Medal of Honor winners were outnumbered by the frauds. How much worse is it if 93% are fakes.

The Stolen Valor Act (which I authored and shepherded through Congress), has already faced the Constitutional test TWICE…and won both times. For more informtion on the legislation calling for a national database that would quickly verify awards, as well as preserve the history of TRUE heroes, see http://www.homeofheroes.com/rollofvalor

When I was in college, two students started a new “honor society” and invited everyone with a certain GPA (which was almost everyone thanks to grade inflation). Amazing how many people signed up and paid a fee:

I tend to take many things with a grain of salt, but this is honestly disgusting that people would falsely claim to receive such high honors, many without even providing a day of service to their country.

The saddest part of this story is that for people like Marcus Luttrell (read Lone Survivor for an amazing story of the heroes of SEAL Team 10 in Afghanistan) who truly deserved an honor like the Navy Cross, their deeds are trivialized by people falsely claiming to be on that level.

Another thing, I know that a lot of these men who have won such awards are not quick to list it on a CV or a Who’s Who. To me, when I hear someone speak about these awards, they are honored to be recognized, but given the situations they are usually presented under, I think many of them would rather have their comrades by their sides than be able to list a medal on their resumes.

It’s one thing to embellish about a job, but to go so far as to say that you are a recipient of a military honor is disgusting. Too many people have died for their friends and brothers and country to allow that kind of behavior. I support the Stolen Valor Act.

My first hint that the ‘Who’s Who’ was a joke was when my cousin was invited to the ‘Who’s Who of American Highschool students’, about a month after she dropped out. Ever since, I’m wary of any honor society.

Benjamin David Steele on The Consequences of Slavery in Africa
"There actually is a lot more to Nunn's research than this, as I understand it. I was reading about it from The Hidden History of the Human Race by Christine..." Read More